Traditional telephony presents a problem for persons who are who are deaf, hard of hearing, or speech-impaired (D-HOH-SI). Communication by telephone requires each party to a telephone call to be able to hear and/or speak to the other party on the call to communicate. For hearing or speech impaired persons, audio communication is difficult or impossible, making telephone communication difficult or impossible.
Early approaches to facilitating telecommunications for D-HOH-SI persons included text-based telecommunications relay service (TRS). Text-based TRS services allow a D-HOH-SI person to communicate with other people over an existing telecommunications network using devices capable of transmitting and receiving text characters over the telecommunications network. Such devices include the telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) and the teletypewriter (TTY). Text-based TRS services were well-suited to the bandwidth limitations of subscriber lines of the time. The bandwidth limitations of subscriber lines were also a limiting factor in the widespread use of video telephony.
The availability of affordable, high-speed packet-switched communications has led to the growth in the use of VRS by D-HOH-SI persons. Using VRS equipment, D-HOH-SI persons can place video calls to communicate between themselves and with hearing individuals using sign language (SL). VRS equipment enables D-HOH-SI persons to talk to hearing individuals via a sign language interpreter (SLI), who uses a conventional telephone at the same time to communicate with the party or parties with whom the D-HOH-SI person wants to communicate. The interpretation flow is normally within the same principal language, such as American Sign Language (ASL) to spoken English or spoken Spanish.
VRS calls present a unique set of issues in a corrections environment (e.g., prison, juvenile detention center, etc.). During VRS calls, typically the inmate (“user”) will sit in front of a first VRS terminal containing a display and a camera. The SLI will sit in front of a second VRS terminal which will display a real-time or “live” video image of the user. The user may then communicate via SL with the SLI, who may then communicate through standard audio telephony with a non-D-HOH-SI individual(s) having a need and/or desire to communicate with the inmate (family member, attorney, clergyman, friend, etc.). For privileged communications with attorneys or clergymen, recording of the VRS call is not permitted. For other communications, it may be desirable or legally-required to record the VRS call.
Problems may occur, such as inmates attempting to circumvent restrictions on who may place calls, or to whom calls may be placed. It would be advantageous to provide a method and system for preventing unauthorized use of a VRS system for placing calls from a correctional institution.